The findings add to concerns that GLP-1s could take a bite out of the bottom lines of some of the biggest restaurant companies and packaged food makers.
Signage is displayed outside a Wendys Co. restaurant in El Sobrante, Calif., May 6, 2020. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)(NEW YORK) Wendy’s announced it will launch new menu prices that will fluctuate depending on the time of day.The country’s second-largest burger chain, which has 6,000 restaurant locations, said the change will begin next year.Customers could pay $1 more for a sandwich like the Baconator during the lunch rush, for example.“Historically, companies just set one price that was constant across time. Pricing algorithms allow companies to change prices throughout the day or perhaps even throughout an hour,” Zach Brown, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, told ABC News Good Morning America.Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said the company will spend $20 million on high-tech digital menu boards that can update prices in real time, similar to surge pricing strategies adopted by rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, airlines and hotels.